Castles in the Sky- Battle Report

Easy E

Post subject: Castles in the Sky- Battle Report

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:40 am

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Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:44 pmPosts: 306

Castles in the Sky Battle report....

Castles in The Sky is a game of ponderous warships of the air; battling on the edges of empire after the Martian Invasion of the 1880s. The destruction of the Martian menace by microbes left a number of tripods available to be studied. From these war machines, great leaps forward in technology were made including the Air Screw. From these discoveries the great nations of the world built a new kind of war machine; the airship.

Castles in the SkyPlace- Off the coast of Montenegro in the Adriatic Sea circa 1914. Scenario- Italians are Raiding the Austro-Hungarians

Thanks Stormwind. I was drawn to is as i like Pre- World War I history and I like flying battleships. What could be better than combining them?

Castles in the Sky- Balkan Uprising Campaign- Raid at Novi Pazar

This is the first battle report in the Balkan Uprising campaign for Castles in the Sky.

Per the campaign rules, the Ottoman Empire has chosen Defensive while the Balkan League chooses Offensive to start the campaign with. The Balkan League will be the attackers in the Raid scenario after the scenario was determined per the campaign rules. A raid scenario does not allow Battleships for the Attackers. The Attackers get 25 Armor points, and Defenders get up to 50 armor points.

The Balkan League has tasked Captain Rozhestvensky with the Oleg to lead the assault force to attack an Ottoman force led by Captain Hassan Rami Pasha in his Heavy Cruiser. The Ottomans are moving their airships away from being in the pocket dividing Montenegro and Serbia. With the outbreak of the Balkan Uprising the Balkan League allied force on the Raid sortied out from Montenegro to engage the Ottoman airships.

The Russian ships in the Balkan League managed to get the drop on the Ottoman Forces as Montenegro had only recently declared war and word had not been officially communicated to the Ottoman fleet. Therefore the initial sighting of the Russian ships did not immediately raise the alert with the Ottoman fleet. However, as the Russians moved closer Captain Hassan Rami Pasha became suspicious and ordered his crews to prepare.

Based on the scenario, I chose to limit the Ottoman Alliance force to Ottoman only units and did not deploy the Battleship for the defenders. This will limit the chance for Experience for the Defenders, but also reduce the number of ships that can be damaged.

MissionThis is a straight up battle where both sides are trying to cripple the other fleet. It will last 6 turns, and then the attackers that are still able to will immediately disengage. The force that has the highest remaining armor value at the end of the battle will win. Set-upThis battle will take place in the air over an ottoman pocket of territory near Novi Bazar. This is represented by a 6x4 table. The brown hills are Altitude 1 while the grey hills are Altitude 2. Airships at that altitude or lower will crash into these hills if they attempt to move over them. The hills also block LOS at those altitudes. There is no cloud cover.

The Ottoman’s are moving at mid-speed at Altitude 3 and 4. Their column is led by the Trakya, followed by the Basra, and then the Mecidiye. The Barbarous is shadowing the column to the port side of the Basra.

The Russians are in two columns approaching from the west. They are the Kondor and the Oleg and then the Sova and Rurik. They are at full steam and altitude 4.

With the land war bogging down around Salonica, the Ottoman League has decided to throw their weight into a battle over the front lines. Members of all the Ottoman League nations have assigned vessels to the attempt. As Salonica is the flashpoint of the campaign, the Balkan League has their assets operating in the area. When word arrives from scouts on the ground of the assembling enemy fleet the Balkan forces quickly move to intercept them. A showdown is inevitable in the skies over Salonica.

This attack and defense are so important, each fleet has their admiral present for the battle.

The MissionThe Ottoman forces are trying to force their way past the blocking Balkan League ships. If successful, they will be able to target and attack key Command and Control and Logistic centers behind enemy lines. This could cause the Balkan attack to crumble.

The Ottoman’s timed their attack to occur during a storm lashing the area. The clouds for the storm are at Altitude 3, and anyone below the cloud cover is considered in the storm. The normal rules found in Castles in the Sky apply.

Set-UpThe Ottoman League set-up on a long board edge in a wedge formation intent on smashing their way past the Balkan defenders and to victory. The attack was spearheaded by the Ottoman flagship the Sultan Mehid-II Fatih/ To the flagship port was the Italian San Bartolomeo, the Austrian Prince Eugene, Bravo Destroyer, and Barbaros Torpedo Boat. The Starboard side is the Mecidiye and the Basra. They are mostly at mid-heights going full speed, but above the cloud line.

The Balkan League defenders are split into two groups. They appear eager to close the center gap and cross the T of the Ottoman attackers. On the south side is the Russian Poltova flagship, followed by the Brennus and the Sova. On the North side is the Vityaz, Primauguet, Oleg, and then the Albatros. They are also at various altitudes, but they are move much slower to try to time their T-cross appropriately.

Salonica has fallen, but the ground campaign has begun to turn into a grind. The Turkish defense has been stiffening with each step the Balkan League troops take. Ottoman forces have been coming across the Aegean to bolster the defenses, and the Balkan League must find a way to stop this flow of fresh troops.

The Balkan League forces have a new admiral after the death of Admiral Senyavin at Salonica. He was killed when his flagship the Poltova exploded during a short range gunnery duel with the Ottoman flagship. The new Admiral Pavel Ivanov is not deterred by the drubbing his fleet took above Salonica and orders a fresh Offensive into the Aegean (Admiral Ivanov has a Command rating of 1? Gulp!) . Admiral Al Reis of the Ottoman League force is also confident after destroying so many Russian ships aligned with the Balkan League. He also orders his forces back on the Offensive, despite failing to breakthrough at Salonica leading to the loss of the city.

Both forces have begun to fan out across the Aegean. The Balkan League is trying to capture and destroy troop ships, while the Ottoman League is trying to stop these attempts.

Per the rules for Campaigns, both sides choose Offensive strategies. Admiral Ivanov rolls up a Patrol mission where the Balkan League is the attacker. This will be a 6 turn engagement with any classes of ship up to 25 Armor points.

Forces

Balkan LeagueTo ease pressure on Russian assets, Admiral Ivanov has ordered the allied ships to take a stronger role in these Aegean patrols.

Looks like a rematch between the Prince Eugene and the Brennus from Salonica!

Mission:This battle takes place south of Thasos but north of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea. The Balkan Fleet is attempting to locate any troop ships on route to the mainland, while the Ottoman League forces are attempting to locate and eliminate any Balkan League ships in the area.

This battle will be a relatively straight forward affair with both sides trying to eliminate the other as they come across the enemy. There are no complications and the battle will take place on a 4x4 table. The fleet with the most Armor points left after 6 turns is the winner.

The Brennus is the Balkan Command ship, while the Prince Eugene is the Ottoman League flagship. No ships are in squadron.

The Ottoman League has decided to put their naval forces towards securing and reinforcing Thasos in order to threaten the flanks of the advancing Balkan land forces. Admiral Al Reis is eager to try and relieve pressure on the ground troops in Europe while more Turkish reinforcements cross the Dardanelles to relieve them. In the meantime, Admiral Ivanov of the Balkan League wishes to continue their aggressive push to the Dardanelles and achieve a key objective in the war effort.

Both commanders of the fleets choose Offensive for their Strategy. The scenario will be a Raid, and the Ottoman League rolls the d6 to determine scenario as the attacker. The Ottoman League (since they are leading the campaign) rolls up a Bombardment scenario.

Forces:In a bombardment scenario, each side fields up to 25 armor points.

Mission:The attacking Balkan Ground Forces had managed to over-run a radio tower formerly used by the Turkish Navy. It was behind enemy lines and would be difficult to assault using conventional means. The Balkan League Admiral Ivanov was using the tower to broadcast signals to help co-ordinate his fleet in support of the ground troops. The Ottoman Admiral Al Reis decided to launch a daring raid to try and destroy the radio tower and its broadcasting bunker. The radio’s destruction would hamper the Balkan League fleet’s ability to press the attack on the Dardanelles and respond to the Ottoman advance in the Aegean.

The Ottoman admiral thought the raid was so important that he decided to personally lead the attack with his Flagship along with his only bomb equipped warships. Once the raid was detected by the Balkan land forces, the only Balkan League forces in a position to respond were the newly repaired Brennus and Georgios Averoff and Admiral Ivanov’s flagship.

The board is covered by clouds at an altitude level of 4. To represent this, cloud banks have been added to the board. However, the whole board is covered at altitude 4. The Pyotr is the Balkan League Flagship with the Sultan Mehmed- II Fatih as the Ottoman flagship.

The game is played on a 4 by 4 table. The Ottoman fleet has 6 turns to destroy the installation. It is located 13inches in from the Balkan board edge on the West side. It has an armor of 7. The Ottoman forces come in from the East at maximum speed and mid-altitude. They are making use of the clouds to cover their approach. The Russian flagship is relatively low and looking to cover the radio tower while the two other Balkan League ships try to cross the T on the attacking Ottoman’s.

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